Wharton School

Wharton School Announces Leadership Advisory Board
Citigroup’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup’s Global

Jan. 13, 2005 — The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania announced the creation of a new Leadership Advisory Board, spearheaded by alumnus Todd Thomson, chairman and CEO of the global wealth management division of Citigroup, which comprises the Citigroup Private Bank, Smith Barney and Global Equity Research businesses. The board was convened to provide an essential link between the Wharton community and the foremost leaders in business, public service, government, entertainment, and sports. The first meeting of the advisory board was held Nov. 9th and 10th in Philadelphia, Pa.

“The collective knowledge of the advisory board will be an invaluable resource for the Wharton community as we seek to continuously expand our educational offerings and research in the area of leadership,” stated Wharton Dean Patrick Harker.

Thomson said that “there is an ever-increasing need in both the world of academia, as well as the world at large, to place greater focus and attention on the development of leadership skills across all facets of business, public service and industry. It is imperative that recognized leaders in all fields come together in a forum where they can pass on their ideas, philosophies and success stories in the areas of leadership and change management.”

Advisory board members include: Maria Bartiromo, CNBC anchor, Alain J.P. Belda, director, chairman and CEO of Alcoa, Peter M. Dawkins, vice chairman of Citigroup Private Bank, Florida Senator (Ret.) Connie Mack of Shaw Pittman LLP, Andrall E. Pearson, founding chairman of YUM! Brands Inc., Lewis E. Platt, chairman of The Boeing Co., David S. Pottruck, former CEO of The Charles Schwab Corp. and managing director of The Pottruck Group, Dean Smith, former head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Thomson.

A $500,000-gift from Thomson and his wife, Melissa, to the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management will support the Center’s research and leadership development programs. Todd Thomson received his MBA in 1987, with distinction, from the Wharton School.

Wharton’s Center for Leadership and Change Management addresses the need for a strong leadership curriculum. Professor Michael Useem, director of the Center, said, “We strive to provide students with the intellectual framework necessary to understand theories of effective leadership, offer them the opportunity to practice this theory in an experiential setting, and encourage the development of learning through reflection as a life-long leadership behavior.”

The Center for Leadership and Change Management also provides: support for individual and cross-disciplinary team-based research projects on organizational leadership, strategy, and change; sponsorship of conferences on leadership and change management; dissemination of practical summaries of current research on leadership and change to the academic and management communities through the monthly electronic Wharton Leadership Digest; and experiential leadership-skill building opportunities through the Wharton Leadership Ventures. These ventures, which range from a creativity-building workshop with the Pilobolus Dance Company to an intensive examination of military style leadership at the U.S. Marine Corps Officer Candidate School to a trek across Antarctica, provide students with the chance to encounter the intersection between theory and practice and examine their own strengths and areas for improvement in an environment that goes beyond their natural comfort zones.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized around the world for its academic strengths across every major discipline and at every level of business education. Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school in the nation, Wharton has approximately 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, Executive MBA, and doctoral students, more than 8,000 participants in its executive education programs annually, and an alumni network of more than 80,000 worldwide.